Socrates to his Friends

3.09. SOCRATES TO HIS FRIENDS. The name of a friend is common; but fidelity is rarely found.Socrates having laid for himself the foundation of a small house (a man, whose death I would not decline, if I could acquire similar fame, and like him I could yield to envy, if I might be but acquitted when ashes); one of the people, no matter who, amongst such passing remarks as are usual in these cases, asked: “Why do you, so famed as you are, build so small a house?”“I only wish,” he replied, “I could fill it with real friends.” [more info]